Bill could hamper closing GuantanamoWASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly backed a $607 billion defense bill that would bar President Barack Obama from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. prisons, setting up a showdown with Congress over his 2008 campaign pledge to close the Cuban facility. The long-running dispute heated up on Capitol Hill on Thursday just hours after the House passed the bill, 370-58, and sent it to the Senate, which plans a vote early next week. Three Rep...

House to retain highway spending levelWASHINGTON — Despite years of warnings that the nation’s roads, bridges and transit systems are falling apart and will bring nightmarish congestion, the House on Thursday passed a six-year transportation bill that maintains the spending status quo. The bill, approved on a bipartisan vote of 363-64, authorizes $325 billion in spending through the 2021 federal budget year. But it provides money for only the first three years because lawmakers co...

3 finalist for West Virginia college postLOGAN, W.Va. — Three finalists have been chosen for the president’s job at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. Southern’s Board of Governors and presidential search committee say James Buyea, Robert Gunter and Alton Scales will visit the college’s campuses in Logan and Williamson next week. Buyea is chief information officer at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, New York. Gunter is vice president for workforce educat...

‘American Scandals’ revisits highly infamous news storiesNEW YORK — Though the fog of time may have clouded certain details, a parade of past scandals that each seized the public’s attention ring familiar to this day. There’s Lyle and Erik Menendez, privileged sons who offed their parents in their Beverly Hills, California, home in 1989. There’s Jean Harris, the girls’ school headmistress whose lover, celebrity diet doctor Herman Tarnower, was found shot dead after she visited him in 1980, landing h...

Wal-Mart’s free shipping has restrictionsNEW YORK — Wal-Mart is promising it won’t be beat on prices this holiday season. But online shoppers shouldn’t expect free shipping without any restrictions. In a sneak peak to its holiday strategies, the world’s largest retailer says it will offer price cuts, or what it refers to as “rollbacks,” starting Nov. 1 on thousands of holiday products that will last at least 90 days. That’s the same time as a year ago. It also says it will offer fewe...

Sandy victims seeing some cash 3 years laterNEW YORK — Many people who complained a federal insurance program shortchanged them after Superstorm Sandy swamped their homes are getting some validation three years later in the form of cash. A Federal Emergency Management Agency review launched in the spring has been finding that many policyholders in the National Flood Insurance Program should have gotten more money to fix their homes after the Oct. 29, 2012, superstorm. The examination is...

Paranormal experts to hold exorcism on live TV specialNEW YORK — The Destination America network’s “Exorcism: Live!” on Friday could either turn out to be the scariest pre-Halloween program on television or the ghostly version of Al Capone’s vault. There isn’t much middle ground. The mostly live, two-hour telecast will culminate in an attempt to rid a suburban St. Louis home of supposed malevolent spirits. The boy who was the subject of the head-turning 1949 exorcism immortalized in William Peter...

From kung fu to California cops: Nunchucks make comeback SAN FRANCISCO — Sgt. Casey Day was skeptical. The chief of his rural Northern California police department wanted him to find out if an ancient martial arts weapon made famous in 1970s Bruce Lee movies could be used to subdue unruly suspects. But it only took a few days of training with nunchucks to win over Day. The weapon — two solid sticks of plastic attached by a foot-long nylon cord — was recently added to the Anderson Police Department's...

New York man creates 'sovereign nation' in Utah SALT LAKE CITY — A New York man is building his own sovereign nation called Zaqistan on a remote piece of land in Utah. Zaq Landsberg has created a yellow-and-red flag, official-looking passports and a border patrol gate guarded by a giant robot sentry for the realm, KSL-TV reported (http://bit.ly/1Lo0yHk ). "The conceptual goal is I want it to become a real country," said Landsberg, its president. "I mean, that goal is not going to happen. It...

Bigfoot believers gather at New York retreat, swap stories CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Bigfoot believers gathered Saturday in western New York, convinced the legendary Sasquatch has left its footprints all over the region. About 100 people sported buttons saying "I believe" and swapped stories at the fourth annual Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo. Organizer Peter Wiemer knows it may not be the first topic that comes to mind in the rural county, best known for the Chautauqua Institution, a summer retreat devoted to...

Growing a 2,000-pound pumpkin can be complicatedCOVENTRY, R.I. — Ron Wallace grows pumpkins nearly the size of a Fiat. From the pumpkin patch in his Rhode Island backyard, Wallace has become the rock star of giant pumpkin-growing. He was the first person in the world to break the 2,000-pound, or 1-ton, barrier when he grew a 2,009-pound pumpkin in 2012, and he previously broke the world record in 2006. A friend calls him a “mainstreamer,” someone whose passion for the hobby has spread word ...

Harley trades life of abuse for applauseLOS ANGELES — Of the eight finalists in the American Humane Association’s 2015 American Hero Dog contest, Harley is the oldest, smallest and most unlikely of winners. After 10 years of abuse in a Midwestern puppy mill, Harley has a diseased heart, rotted mouth, fused spine, broken tail, gnarled toes, deformed legs and a missing eye. But the 6-pound Chihuahua was named top dog at a sold-out Los Angeles awards ceremony. More than a million publi...

Ole Miss removes Mississippi flag with Confederate emblem JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The University of Mississippi quietly removed the state flag with its Confederate battle emblem from its place of honor on campus Monday morning after students and faculty called it a divisive symbol that undermines efforts to promote diversity, tolerance and respect. Interim Chancellor Morris Stocks waited until after the brief ceremony was over to announce that he had ordered the flag lowered and sent to the university'...

Typo sends callers to ‘party line’The words “free” and “fun” are not the first things that come to mind when talking about the Massachusetts Department of Administration and Finance. Yet a typo in a phone number on a news release issued by the agency Wednesday sent media inquiries to a “free and fun party line” advertising adult hotlines. The Boston Herald reported the release declaring October as Cyber Security Awareness Month mistakenly substituted area code “617” instead of...

Free housing, other efforts try to attract more women to techSEATTLE — Free rent and groceries were selling points, but college freshman Aishwarya Mandyam was more excited about the chance to connect with like-minded women when she moved into the eight-bedroom house offered up by a Seattle software startup. “There’s inspiration. There’s tech support,” said the computer science major who is interested in a career that combines medicine and technology. Mandyam and seven other women are sharing a 3,100-squ...

Former Senate leader defends contributionsLITTLE ROCK — The former president of the Arkansas Senate broke his silence Thursday about receiving $120,000 in consulting fees from a group largely funded by lobbyists and their clients while he led the Senate. Michael Lamoureux of Russellville, now chief of staff for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said in an emailed statement that his actions were ethical and legal. Documents provided to The Associated Press and reported on Wednesday showed that he r...

GM overcomes huge recall costs to post healthy 3Q profitDETROIT (AP) — General Motors' third-quarter profit fell slightly, but the company rode strong North American sales to overcome $1.5 billion in costs from its deadly ignition switch recall. Its shares rose almost 7 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday. The Detroit automaker's net income slipped 1.4 percent from a year ago, but still was $1.36 billion, or 84 cents per share. That compares with $1.38 billion, or 81 cents per share, a year ago....

Lawyer indicted over oil spill fraudJACKSON, Miss. — A Texas lawyer faces criminal charges after he was accused of submitting thousands of false claims for damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Robert McDuff, a lawyer for San Antonio attorney Mikal Watts, confirmed Wednesday that Watts was indicted in Mississippi and will appear in court Oct. 29 in Gulfport. “I look forward to a speedy trial and the opportunity to prove to a jury that I am not guilty of any crimes,” Wa...

Lawsuit settled over car used in ‘Back to the Future’ filmsNEWARK, N.J. — In time for “Back to the Future” day, the widow of the automaker whose famous car traveled through time in the 1985 movie and its sequels has settled a lawsuit over the use of his name. Last year, the widow of automaker John DeLorean sued a Texas company she said has been illegally using the DeLorean name for years. The DMC-12, known simply as “the DeLorean,” was driven by Michael J. Fox in the movie and has since gained a cult ...

Close calls with drones spur federal registration of owners WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerned about rising reports of close calls and safety risks involving drones, the government announced Monday it will require many of the increasingly popular unmanned aircraft to be registered. Pilot sightings of drones have doubled since last year, including near manned airplanes and at major sporting events, and there are reports of interference with wildfire-fighting operations, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sa...